Escalating conflict

CAIRO CONFERENCE (1964):

• Nasser invited all Arab leaders to Cairo presenting Israel's plans to divert the river Jordan to create new settlements as a threat
• 1) HEADWATER DIVISION PLAN- Syria and Lebanon to divert 2/3 of sources river- Israel prevented it by conducting air strikes on Syrian territory 
• 2) PLO SET UP- responsiible for welfare of Palestinian refugees and set up PLA so Palestinians could join their own army, this didn't threaten Israel as IDF was unmatchable 

GROWING TENSIONS BETWEEN ISRAEL, SYRIA AND JORDAN:

• FATAH (1959)- rejected PLO- Arrafat believed there should be 1 Palestine where Jews and Arabs live together- small and many left to join PLA (1965) so to gain support they planted a bomb but Israel disarmed it- this gained huge publicity and many joined
• SYRIAN SUPPORT FOR FATAH- new government that accused Nasser of not helping them but agreed on a defence pact with Egypt
• ISRAEL SAMU RAIDS (NOV 1966)- Israeli patrol drove over a land mine and 3 died, Fatah was suspected- Israel sent 600 troops to the west bank targeting Samu, Jordan, killed 19 

DOGFIGHT (april-1967)- Syrian gunners fired an Israeli tractor in a DMZ- Israel sent planes into attack Syrian gun positions and villages on the golan heights- dogfight followed where Israel shot 6 jets which was a blow to Syria's pride

USSR AND NASSER (may-1967)- USSR told Nasser that Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border (lie or geniune mistake)- Nasser was under pressure to act and in 17 days he moved troops to Sinai, closed the straits of tiran and signed a defence treaty with Jordan- made him hero of arabs 

ISRAEL AND USA- Nasser's actions put Israel on military alert and tension rose- Eskhol wanted the straits of tiran reopened by the USA but they suggested that he should do it himself- Dayan (defence minister 1967 june) wanted war but knew that Israel could be easliy defeated and so told reserve troops to go home whilst the Israeli government secretly decided on war

• 5TH
  • EGYPT- IDF occupy Gaza
  • SYRIA- IDF destroy air force and air field
  • JORDAN- IDF destroy air force and air field and Jordan attack West Jeruselum
• 6TH
  • EGYPT- IDF cross Sinai towards the Suez canal
  • JORDAN- Fierce fighting to control Jeruselum
• 7TH
  • EGYPT- IDF have complete control of Sinai
  • JORDAN- IDF win East Jeruselum and Jordan agrees to UN ceasefire
• 8TH
  • Egypt- agrees to UN ceasefire
  • JORDAN- IDF control West Bank
• 9TH
  • SYRIA- IDF attack army at Golan heights
• 10TH
  • SYRIA- IDF control Golan Heights and Syria agree to UN ceasefire
    • ISRAEL WON - 779 ISRAELIS DIED/ 20,000 ARABS DIED

UN RESOLUTION 242 (6 months after war)- attempted land for peace solution to end conflict- USA and USSR in favour 

• Israel must withdraw from all territory gained in 6dw 
• Arab states must recognise Israel's right to exist 
• settlement of refugee problem (Palistinians)

Palastinians rejected it and were insulted by being called a refugee proble, Israel was prepared to negotiate with Egypt, Syria and Jordan but they responded with the 3 no's (no peace, recognition or negotions) 

SUEZ DISPUTE- major source of income for Egypt but was unusable due to sunk ships blocking it- Egypt refused to let Usrael use the canal and Israel refused to allow Egypt to move the ships- by 1970 the war of attrition escalated and over 1.5 million Egyptians had to flee and 1000 Israelis died

after the six day war Israel was 350% bigger and a huge amount of soviet weapons were in Israeli hands

• PALESTINIAN REFUGEES:
  • 1 million living in West bank and Gaza were under Israeli control, and around 300,000 chose not to stay in the West Bank when it was taken by Israelis- most fled to Jordan where 6 new emergency refugee camps were created by the UN but conditions were bad.
  • weren't allowed citizenship so they could be rehomed as compensation by Israel who's view was since 850,000 Jews moved from Astates to Israel, Arabs should take care of them
• TERRORISM:
  • FATAH ATTACKS- many new members and so Arafat ordered attacks on Israel but they retaliated. Israel destroyed the base in Karameh and took 150 prisoners but was condemed for excessive force. This boosted Fatah and Arafat was made chairman of PLO (1969)
  • PLO EXPULSION FROM JORDAN (1970)- over half of Jordan were Palestinian refugees and most saw Arafat as their leader so he effectivley controlled a state within a state.
  • PFLP PLANE HIJACKS (1970)- PFLP believed Fatah tactics achieved nothing, George Habash hijaked 4 planes and flew 3 to Dawson's field the 310 passengers were mostly released but 56 jews were separated. Then inviting the world press they blew them up

• BLACK SEPTEMBER (1970)- King Hussain (Jordan) was furious with PFLP feeling they were abusing his hospitality. He ordered his army to seize control of PLO bases over ten days (BS). The troops killed 2,000 fighers but Nasser negotiated a truce. Nasser however died of a heart attack and so hostilities resumed until July 1971 when Hussain expelled PLO who moved to Lebanon
• MUNICH OLYMPICS (1972)- After expulsion of PLO a group called 'Black September Organisation' emerged who assasinated the Jordanian prime minister and 5th September 8 members entered the olympic village and killed 2 Israeli athletes andtook 9 hostage. German negotiators agreed to helicopter the members to 234 hostages in a military base, but before they left police killed 5 members, took 3 as prisoners and all 9 athletes died.

relations remained tense due to the continued despute of the Suez canal escalating into the war of attrition. With soviet aid Egypt's forces strengthned and around 15,000 soviet advisers were in Egypt and Soviet pilots fought Israeli pilots. 

Other than Jordan and Kuwait, Arab states offered Nasser little help but Nasser still lead the Arab world playing a key role in the Khartoum conference producng the 3 no's policy. Nasser also called for an emergency meeting in Cairo with King Hussain and PLO and succeeded in bringing peace.

ANWAR SADAT- new presedent of Egypt- aimed to restore egypt's economy and rebuild cities destroyed in the war of attrition. He had to cut military spendings and send home 1 million soldiers on standby of another Israeli attack. To do this he needed peace with Israel so he aprroached the Prime minister (Golda Meir) with an offer based of 242 but she rejected. He then expelled 15,000 Soviet advisers hoping to please the USA and encourage Israel to negotiate but nothing happend. in 1972 Sadat had achieved nothing so he decieded the only way to achieve a negotiation was with war so he secretly planned to make Israel realise it wasn't invinsible.

MILITARY CONTROL- to prevent Egyptian attack a steep sand wall was built along the Suez canal, and behind this was a line of deep bunkers surrounded by minefields and barbed wire (Bar Lev line) costing $300 million. At the Golan Heights deep bunkers were dup and fortified with steel and the 100,000 Syrians who fled during the 6dw were not allowed to return.

JERUSALEM- East Jerusalem's Arabic past was erased e.g. 135 houses infront of the wailing wall were removed to make way for a Jewish prayer area, the inhabitants were evicted but were given some compensation. 

WEST BANK AND GAZA- Palestinians were given the right to govern themselves and they were allowed to work in Israel is they had travel and work permits. But they lived under military control, the IDF created road blocks and built checkpoints and military bases to control the movment of Palestinians. Israelis then started taking land saying was for security but they gave it to Jews in the Jordan valley

Egypt launched a surprise attack on Sinai, the air force bombed Israeli airfields and army bases in Sinai and due to Yom Kippur Israel was unprepared with many soldiers at home. High pressure water cannons and blasted the sand wall and engineers built temporary bridges for soldiers to cross the canal into Sinai and 23,000 soldiers made it there. The Egyptians were also well armed and the IDF hoped the airforce would save them but they had been shot down by Egyptians and around 300 IDF tanks were destroyed in Sinai.

At the same time Syrian forces attacked the Golan heights and within 6 hours the Israeli defences were overun there.

Radio stations ordered reservist soldiers to report for duty immediatley and it took 72 hours for Israel to become completely mobile. Their first priority was to take back control of the Golan Heights and by october 10th they succeeded and were soon theatening the capital, Damascus. Assad appealed to Egypt to attack further into Sinai to take pressure of them. This caused 260 egyptian tanks to be destroyed and they had retreated back to the canal

Israel crossed the Suez canal cutting off the Egyptian army in Sinai. Sadat and the UN asked for peace but Israel ignored it. The USSR then threatened to get involved and Arab states stopped selling oil to the US and so the US put pressure o Israel to agree to a ceasfire.

ISRAEL- astonishing victory but 9,500 soldiers died or were wounded and Israel suffered a blow to it's confidence and many blamed the government for not being prepared and so the next year Golda Meir and Dayan resigned.

EGYPT- failiure as 30,000 casualties and lost a huge number of tanks and jets and the canal was still unusable. Egypt could however argue that they only lost because Israel has US support and for the first time in forever (since 1967) Arab pride in their military was restored, Sadat was now seen as a worthy successor to Nasser.

USA- alerted them for the need for peace in the middle east as it almost caused a Nuclear war between them and the USSR and the oil embargo showed the power of the oil weapon.

SYRIA- gained glory of breifly overcoming Israeli defences and was praised for the way it co-ordinated it's plan with Egypt. But the Golan Heights remained with Israel and Palestinians gained no land back even though many fought with Syrians.